Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Honoring Nestlé

I had just recently returned to blogging, with plans of
several more fun little posts to come (a wedding, bragging on Fox, and even a
picture of my first decorative painting piece).
This post is not fun and is most unexpected: I lost my sweet Nestlé rabbit this
morning. I really did not see this one
coming.

We had gone all of this time thinking Nestlé was a girl, and
only very recently realized Nestlé was a boy.
This is partially due to the fact that we are dumb; it’s also due to the
fact that when we bought him, the feed store swore that we were buying
a girl; and then there’s the whole factor that rabbits are one of very few
animals that can actually retract their testicles and hide them inside their
bodies, and Nestlé had only recently decided to “let it all hang out”.

I had taken him to the vet yesterday where the diagnosis was
that he had a little ulcerated sore on one of his testicles…no big deal,
according to the vet. Dr. Becky said
that with rabbits she sees it all the time, and that, in fact, she has seen many
rabbits with many more of those sores (Nestlé only had the one), and that his
wasn’t nearly as big or bad as what she usually sees. Some antibiotic ointment, some oral
antibiotic, and we were on our way. He
would be good as new in no time.

I hurried home because I was already late for my appointment
with Paisley and Fox (Mom and Dad had somewhere to go), so I kissed Nestlé and
put him in his cage, and then I headed to the Lackey household. When I got back last night, it was obvious
that Nestlé had a major diarrhea attack while I was gone – something that he
had never,
ever had before! I cleaned him
up, put more ointment on his spot, gave him his oral medicine (which he
actually liked!) and spent some time cuddling him before heading to bed.

This morning, straight-a-way, I went to his cage to check on
him. He was alert, but certainly was not
his perky self when I took him out. No
diarrhea, though, so I cuddled and nuzzled him for a while. He was panting a little, and I set him down
on his newspaper to see if he might need to take care of some business. He sat there for a couple of minutes so I
started ironing Robert’s shirt. I saw
him take three little wobbly hops towards the dining table, where he then laid
on his side and began doing something that I can only describe as
convulsing. I screeched and ran over and
picked him up. As I held him to my
chest, he made a couple of little clicking/coughing sounds and then went limp.

Robert thought he was still alive (though barely), so I
headed to the vet to be there when they opened.
He was gone when I got there. In
my talk with Dr. Becky, she expressed that she was absolutely shocked. The rabbit that she saw yesterday showed her
no reason to even dream that he would be gone this morning. Other than his little lesion (which she swore
was minor in terms of rabbit ailments), she considered him to be in good health
and would have never guessed that this would have happened. Here is a picture of my sweet bunny that was
taken just day before yesterday – he was hanging out on the hearth as he
usually did:

I got Nestlé two years ago as a birthday present from
Robert. He was pretty small, and very,
very sweet:

It didn’t take him long to become a regular member of the
family. He loved the dogs and his favorite
thing was to chase Toffee around the house, hoping to get Toffee to play with
him. And if there was a sleeping dog
nearby, Nestlé wasn’t scared to try to get a little cuddle:

He really, really loved being outside whenever we were out,
and his favorite spot was near the wheelbarrow underneath the oak tree:

Nestlé’s playfulness was not just limited to the dogs; he
absolutely loved running alongside Opal Chicken, taunting and chiding her to
chase him. She did not really like him,
though (hence, there was always a fence between them):

I once read that rabbits don’t really like to be cuddled and
held, but that did not hold true for Nestlé.
I can’t tell you how many times I would be sitting in the family room,
watching TV or on the computer, and I would feel something touching my
leg. It was Nestlé, standing straight
up, putting his front paws on my leg to get my attention because he wanted me
to pick him up and snuggle him under my neck…and I always did, no matter what I
was doing or how busy I was because I knew what a special privilege he was
bestowing upon me.

I love my bunny, even now, and I always will. Nestlé, thank you for being part of my life –
I will dearly miss you.

Gone But Never Forgotten: Cookie...

...And Chewka Marie...

...And Ruby...

Liked roosting on our shoulders, eating grapes, and hanging out with Opal

...And Pearl

Liked running free in the yard, scratching in the garden bed that was supposed to be off-limits, and being close to a human at all times. "Her" crowing led to "her" having to go back to her original family due to a city ordinance against roosters!

...And Molly

Likes EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD, pouncing Cookie and Toffee, going out to potty at 2:45 a.m., and drinking water out of puddles. Is now living with another family in the area, in a big house with a pool and two other Golden Retrievers!